Special Correspondent of Hindu
Ruling party leaders are behind it all, says
BJP MLA
JAIPUR: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party and
the Government led by it in Rajasthan refuses
to say "sorry" for last Sunday's attack
on Christian preacher Walter Massey, the party
MLA from Sriganganagar, Surendra Singh Rathore,
has broken his silence to condemn the "dastardly"
act. He has accused the party's front organizations
of misleading the Rajput youth to carry out
their "nefarious acts" in the name
of religion.
Mr. Rathore, a party rebel, in a statement here
said "certain senior leaders of the ruling
party" were inciting Rajput youths to carry
out attacks on members of the minority communities.
"The organisations which provoke the youths
into such criminal acts get away the moment
police gets to the scene," he said.
An impartial enquiry would expose the real culprits
behind the attack on the preacher. High-ups
in the Government and the party were involved,
Mr. Rathore charged.
"These organisations which provoked the
youths are now denying their involvement. If
they had any objection to the Christian missionaries
preaching their faith they should have had the
guts to come out in the
open. Pushing youngsters to execute such dubious
agenda and then withdrawing from the scene is
no sign of character," said Mr. Rathore,
a politician with a socialist background.
"My information is that some of the senior
ruling party members had prompted some Rajput
youths for the attack on Mr. Massey. This has
happened in the past as well with the youth
of the community as they are emotional and easily
inspired by religious fervour," Mr. Rathore
said.
"The Rajput youths have fought against
injustice from the times immemorial. From the
Ashoka period to the period of the Mughals,
the Rajput youths have fought injustice and
never targeted innocent and helpless persons,"
he observed.
If the Government had any problem with the activities
of Christian religious persons, then it should
go for legal action against them instead of
vitiating the youth with campaign of hatred,
Mr. Rathore said. "It is wrong to implicate
innocent youths in the case when the real culprits
are somebody else," he added.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/05/stories/2007050513370300.htm
